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Clueless

Plot
A US West Coast teen lifestyle parody centered around Cher, a popular high school girl who spends her days playing match-maker, helping her friends with fashion choices, and looking for a boyfriend.

Release Year: 1995

Rating: 6.6/10 (51,703 voted)

Critic's Score: 68/100

Director:
Amy Heckerling

Stars: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy

Storyline Cher, a high school student in Beverly Hills, must survive the ups and downs of adolescent life. Her external demeanor at first seems superficial, but rather it hides her wit, charm, and intelligence which help her to deal with relationships, friends, family, school, and the all-important teenage social life.

Trivia:
Although with many obvious modernizations and adaptations having been made, "Clueless" actually does still dovetail pretty closely to the original plot and central set of characters found in Austen's "Emma". In terms of the cast, for instance: Cher is Emma, Josh is Mr Knightley, Tai is Harriet Smith, Elton is Mr Elton, Travis is Robert Martin, Christian is a loose and much more sympathetic version of Frank Churchill and Dionne could feasibly be Mrs Weston (although it is also possible, given that Cher attempts to matchmake the two of them, that Mr Hall and Miss Geist could also be Mr and Mrs Weston, who, likewise, Emma claims to have matched.).

Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
When Josh is talking on the phone with Cher, the books in the background are in two stacks with a space between them. But when it cuts back to Josh, the books are pushed together.

Quotes:Josh:
You want to practice parking? Cher:
What's the point? Everywhere you go has valet.

User Review

Easy to like

Rating: 8/10

Director Amy Heckerling knows a thing or two about high school flicks,
having directed the highly successful `Fast Times at Ridgemont High'.
Heckerling put her talents to work thirteen years later for the next
generation of high schoolers, writing and directing this hilarious satire of
life at Beverly Hills H.S. Heckerling takes a different approach from `Fast
Times', which found its comedy in the absurdity of reality, depicting
situations into which teenagers really get themselves. Here Heckerling's
comedy mostly comes from mocking the superficiality of the high school
`in-crowd'. While this is not the first time this has been done, few have
ever done it with such blistering wit. This film became the standard for a
spate of 1990's high school flicks set on the west coast that borrowed many
of its elements.

The story focuses on Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), who is the most
popular girl at Beverly Hills H.S. Cher seems to be a superficial airhead,
but this belies her conniving and manipulative skills at getting what she
wants. Superficial yes, airhead no! In a plot derived in part from Jane
Austen's `Emma', Cher works behind the scenes to arrange love matches
between various students. She even orchestrates a relationship between two
teachers to improve their moods so they don't grade so harshly. Like Emma,
she is a master of love for everyone but herself.

Heckerling does a fantastic job of presenting what seems on the surface to
be a cotton candy story with lightweight characters, but really runs much
deeper revealing subtle truths about human nature. Her direction of the
fledgling cast is superb, milking every ounce of comedy out of each
scene.

Silverstone sparkles in the role, which is probably not far from a reality
with which she is very familiar. She actually attended Beverly Hills H.S.
with co-star Breckin Meyer, although she didn't graduate due to career
commitments (she received a G.E.D.). This film catapulted her to teen
prominence with two MTV movie awards and an American Comedy Award as
funniest actress in a leading role. She plays Cher with both arrogance and
vulnerability, and her comic timing is impeccable. She also has a knack for
physical comedy, with a broad range of contorted facial expressions and
amusing use of body language. The rest of the teen cast is also great,
especially Brittany Murphy as Tai and Breckin Meyer as Travis. Dan Hedaya
is also priceless as Cher's work obsessed attorney father.

This film is easy to like. It is a light and funny spoof, but it still has
nuance. I rated it an 8/10. For those who enjoy high school comedies, this
is required viewing.